Every child is familiar with the sight, if not the feel, of the classical forked stick sling-shot having rubber bands on either side as propulsion members and an intermediate thong to cradle a stone or similar missile. Such a toy is a descendant of the age-old leather sling, sometimes on the end of a stick, with which pebbles could be thrown to kill small game--or even Goliath by David.
Similar but on a much more lethal scale is the medieval catapult, fixed or on a movable base, with one or more flexure, tension, or torsion members made of leather, wood, or eventually metal, and able to throw huge rocks or metal balls. Unlike the sling, most catapults required more than one person to draw back and release.
As most children play warlike games, they also prefer increased firepower, preferably what one person can handle alone. A sling-shot as a "Game Balloon Launcher" wherein a funnel is adapted as the missile holder is described in Randoll U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,396.
The limited length of one person's arms imposes an undesirable limitation on sling-shots or similar missile launchers, especially as attention turns to a wider variety of interesting missiles, such as bags or balloons of water or even more noxious liquids.